The scary answer for businesses on who can file a qui-tam or whistleblower case is anyone who has the information. That means this person can range anywhere from the janitor who finds the paperwork in the trash, the secretary of the President who can see what is going on, or the Vice President in charge…

Qui tam started here in the United States in the 1800s during the Civil War. Originally it was named “the Lincoln Law” and was enacted in order to stop the corruption and fraud the government was suffering trying to buy supplies for the war. The fraud was rampant at all levels, from the sale of…

What an amazing day today actually is! What you say? It’s not my birthday! It’s not the 4th of July! It’s not even National Send your Grandma a Hallmark Card Day! What is today? Today is National Whistleblower Day! I am sure you count the days each year for this fantastic holiday. Ok, maybe I am a bit over…

It is commonly known that you are not allowed to “extort” money from a person. What does it mean to extort money? The definition is to obtain something by force, threat or other unfair means. In other words, you can’t threaten to turn in a criminal unless they pay you money. But what about employment situations…

Will our client, Zoltan Barati and the people of the State of Florida, get their day in court? In this case Florida’s whistleblower statute and system is being turned on its head. The important question being decided is whether corruption will be given a loophole to escape responsibility.Qui tam/False Claims Act/Whistleblower laws were created to…

One such contractor, Kellogg, Brown & Root Services Inc (KBR) is being sued by a whistleblower and the Department of Justice for defrauding the government. The lawsuit says two Kuwaiti firms, La Nouvelle General Trading & Contracting Company and First Kuwaiti Trading Company both were using a kickback scheme along with overbilling to rip off…

Fraud is everywhere and ever present. We can’t avoid it, and we can’t stop it all. Sometimes it feels like there’s no way around it. The worst part is that many people don’t really know what to do about it when they are faced with the situation.Here they are, stuck in a giant corporation a…

I love Massachusetts.It is like Texas, but on a smaller scale. Like its oversized counterpart, everyone does it big in Massachusetts.Unfortunately, that also goes for tax fraud. Last year William Scott Dion, was convicted for conspiring to defraud the United States of tax revenue through multiple tax fraud methods and scams.Sound familiar? It seems to…

Investors beware: Tax cheats can hurt you, too!Larry Lough of Ohio was sent to jail for two years for defrauding investors and failing to pay employment taxes. (Incidentally, I grew up about 60 miles from Larry.)Mr. Lough was the operator of a company called Tri E Technologies (TET). He committed the most typical class of…